CIAA charges Lharkyal Lama with corrpution

KATHMANDU, May 12: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Thursday filed a corruption case at the Special Court against UCPN (Maoist) lawmaker Lharkyal Lama on the charge of amassing illegal wealth.

The anti-graft body has accused Lama of amassing property worth Rs 92.4 million illegally by holding public posts on various occasions.

According to CIAA spokesperson Krishna Hari Pushkar, Lama could not prove legal sources for the property worth Rs 92.4 million. The CIAA said that Lama's income from salary and allowances, property sale and loan in the last 15 years totalled to over Rs 203.4 million while his expenses and investments during the period totalled to Rs 297.9 million.

Lama was appointed the chairman of Monastery Management Committee on January 3, 2002 and served as State Minister for Finance in the Jhalanath Khanal's cabinet when he was associated with the CPN-UML. He was forced to resign the post after controversy surfaced over his citizenship certificate. He then left the CPN-UML to join the UCPN (Maoist). Lama was appointed Constituent Assembly member and lawmaker by the UCPN (Maoist) under the proportional representation electoral system.

Earlier in March, Lama was arrested by police after they found 14 bullets in his bank locker and released him on bail. A few days later, he was re-arrested on fraud charges related to foreign employment. He was later released by the Department of Foreign Employment on a bail bond of Rs 3 million.